Dr Capwells' passion for this is so clearly obvious and his entertaining style really captivates the viewer, but I think that his personal viewpoint as someone who actually fights in armour today, adds an extra level to his subject, in comparison to someone who is just theorycrafting about how "a certain item of armour might have been used"
Great informative video. I've been reading Dan Jonses book the Plantagenets . I know this is a fifteenth century effigy and the Plantagenets were earlier Cnut it helps to visualize and understand the warrior culture of medieval Europe.
It's indeed unfortunate, but hardly a new phenomenon. Many cathedrals have graffiti dating to the 18th Century or earlier. At Chillon Castle in Switzerland, I remember seeing a graffito by none other than Lord Byron. I guess even great Romantic poets felt the need to scrawl their names over ancient pieces of art and architecture.
Hearing about the rampant vandalism on this piece of culture, art and history being of the 18th, 19th or earlier centuries both saddens and pisses me of about our great-great-great-and greater fathers being such hooligans.
Really interesting: can't wait for part 3. Anyone who hasn't already really ought to check out Knyght Errant's piece-by-piece breakdown of his own harness. Having seen him go over the foot armour, for example, turning it around, showing the inside and how it all attaches, articulates and interacts with other pieces of the armour, really allowed me to get much more out of this video than I would have done in my previous state of relative ignorance..
Thank you very much Mr. Easton and Mr. Capwell for giving me the opportunity to learn and broaden my horizon not only about armor but also about what kind of life he had and how difficult this effigy was to make. Please do more!
I wonder if the inclusion of copper bands at the edges of plates might've helped in cases where the plates slid against each other. Last I checked, copper has a way of acting lubricious without being oiled. Perhaps it was a functional detail, as well as an aesthetic one?
I really like this type of analysis of non written sources with some background story. It's almost like going to the museum. I hope you will post more.
It really is a cracking good tombeffigy, it's been ever so well preserved. I don't know whose effigy it is, but you can see he was a Knight Companion of the Garter (the blue band around his left leg)
It's Sir William Phelip. He was a man of considerable standing in his own time, fighting at Agincourt, acting as Henry V's war treasurer and serving as a personal bodyguard to the young Henry VI. They talked about him in detail Part 1 of this series.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Phelip,_6th_Baron_Bardolf
This is realy realy interesting. I just wish movies and tv would understand how platearmour works. Nope just pick up a sword ala LoTr and cut right threw it just like the armour aint there. Hollywood are lazy as fuck!!!!
People tend to be more strict about that nowadays, my guess is that the graffiti is quite old. I forget where, but I was in a church looking at some medieval choir stalls, and there were a lot of initials carved by bored choir boys in the 18th and 19th centuries. They shouldn't have done it, but the carvings had kind of a historical value of their own.
+Iron Pirate Aye, what was, at the time, an act of vandalism can, centuries later, can serve to transform the faceless masses of history into real people, with lives every bit as real as our own. One of my favourites is from the Coliseum in Rome: DOMINUS EST NON GRADUS ANUS RODENTUM (The boss isn't worth a rat's arse.)
The groin injury idea reminds me of how when there is a disease reported on the news the following day half the population goes to their doctor to check for it/prevent it. I have an image in my mind of this spreading around medieval England and everyone running to their armourer and getting extra-long plated skirts haha!
I just returned to this video after I rewatch Ians video on Groin protection. This video series with Toby Capwell is so great. As a history student I really wish this was a better developed field - academically. This videos basically could be part of a lecture on the hundred years war, such a shame that it only has so few views - especially now that there are so many popcultural things linked to very bad representations of armor and medieval like scenarios. Great work!
8:12 !!! The expert saying that he doesn't know! Huzza! honesty. 22:00 didn't Henry VIII have a long LONG wide skirt on his second field of golden cloth armor?
These wonderful effigies have always fascinated me from the first time I saw one as a very small boy in the early 1950s. Even then as a child, I always felt that they were not realistic depictions because, to me, the armour always appeared to be virtually no thicker than one layer of garment and almost painted onto the skin. As it is well established how much was worn under the plate and mail, my question (never answered) was were they that skinny? Subsequently seeing armour in various museums/castles etc hasn’t entirely shaken that question. I’ve seen hundreds of these effigies and I still have that boyhood question cast a tiny shadow across the back of my head whenever I marvel at one of these superb pieces of our heritage. Just look at the slimness of the hips and limbs of this fine character, I know that is said that our ancestors were slightly shorter, more slender, more hardy stronger and fitter than we but that impression never leaves me. Leaving all thoughts of the armour and individuals represented by the memorials, the exquisite workmanship and dedication, expertise and care exercised by the crafts people who created the alabaster work still astounds me. Thanks to Toby and Matt for presenting these superb videos, I only recently came across their RU-vid sites and have been trying see their back catalogues and those of their associates which has been a really worthy diversion in the last year or so.
Are there records of men at arms struck in the marbles or was that too embarrassing to be recorded which was swiftly erased from recorded history. I have a proposition of war hammers. The sword was used to close the distance, the hammer would be surprise kebab right under the skirt. May not penetrate someone with mail, however, the person under all of that would still feel it and flinch. That gives time to execute or give an opening for any other move to happen. Especially that all other venues of the body is well covered, the biggest exposure is between the legs..just my two pennies worth. There might be slang recorded in texts, something to the extent of "oh my goolies" or perhaps not, just a muffled swear "muff!".=P
Don't touch. Even the slightest touch can wear away the painting and degrade the object even further. What is it with presenters that they feel museum rules don't apply to them? You can actually see his cuffs hitting the effigy, his fingers touching the painted elements. Keep touching it if you want it to completely degrade.
This may seem a silly question, but did gauntlets with articulated fingers if they were in fact used have faux fingernails engraved or worked onto the gauntlet?
Yes it was common for armor or replicate the aspects of the human body or aspects of textile clothing into them, there are lots of examples of gauntlets with fingernails in museums.
Despite what many believe, graffiti is not always done despite the importance of an object but rather an act which tacitly acknowledges the significance and historicity of the object. People would not see fit to leave their mark on something which is unimportant - something which they believe will not stand the test of time. Obviously I don't want someone to dip their bollocks in paint and teabag the Mona Lisa, but all it takes is a few centuries or more and any bit of graffiti becomes historically significant. All it takes is time.
Punks. I will never understand how or why defacing historical artifacts or any public property ever caught on amongst the disgusting little cunts of the world.
@@BigZ7337 It's not out of disregard for the importance of the object - it's actually an act done in recognition of its importance. People wanting to be a part of history and to leave their mark on something they believe will outlive them.
The tomb of Pharaoh Seti I bears graffiti left there by Celtic Galatian mercenaries serving in the Ptolemaic armies thousands of years later. It reads: "Of the Galatians, we Thoas, Kallistratos, Acannon and Apollonios, came and a fox we caught here." Graffiti has always been a thing, and there will always be people who leave inscriptions on objects which they do not deem important, or deem important for other reasons. I'm surprised the effigy is in such good shape.
Thank you for your reply. Yes it is true that this is not a new or even generation thing. But it always puzzles me why people do it. When I look at that effigy I think to myself not in a 1000 years would I be able to craft something like this. My respect for the work and worker is much much too high to even think about damaging it.
I fully agree, same here mate. I guess it takes a certain amount of ego, disrespect and perhaps humour to defile a work of art in such a way. Though I must also say that while I find the act despicable and disrespectful, from a historians' point of view such graffiti can be a great historical source. From the graffiti in Egypt we now know for sure that Galatians served in the Ptolemaic army and even travelled all the way to Egypt.
Anyone who hasn’t got Toby’s book ‘Armour Of The English Knight 1400-1450’ then I recommend it! Absolutely jam packed with info on basically every aspect of English and also some Continental armours and effigies! Not only full of hundreds of pictures but also brilliant explanatory drawings and illustrations!
These armours must have had a significance to our ancestors we can't possibly imagine. That is not meant to belittle Dr.Capwells studies, quite the opposite, his work is unique and with his jousting experience he has probably an understanding of these matters like noone else over the last 400 years.
hey i know how out of context this is but maybe you wouldn't mind suggesting somewhere i can purchase something along the lines of a riveted mail shirt of relative quality kinda like yours maybe even someone who would even take my body size and tailor it to my fitting? thank you! really enjoy your videos!
Matt, I'd love to see you do a video on how the quality of medieval armor contributed to the improvement and popularization of guns in western Europe. I feel like this has to be a major pressure that pushed European tech to improve so quickly, but I've never seen it much talked about by someone who knows stuff.
I really want to get good with a sword and an accompanied dagger or knife, but I can't decide between a rapier, a cutlass or a cavalry sabre. What is your recommendation?
I'm just impressed with the intelligent and cogent presentation. This is certainly not my area of expertise but I will be following this stream. Thanks
I'd never really considered how extensive the dulling effect on the senses, from being encased in armor, could be before Toby's personal example. Very interesting.
Idk, but I think you may be confused due to modern terms. "fencing" was the martial art used to kill people, you would fence in a battle or self defence. "sword play" was sword practice or non-lethal duels, you were playing at sword without viscious intent. For the most part they are the same. I don't know of historical people who mention a difference, but I guess you don't aim for the same places and might pull your blows so they don't cut too deeply in sword play. Unless you're talking about tournament fighting, in which you fight in armour basically as you would out of armour and score points depending on your hits. Rules varied from tournament to tournament.
A lot of physical pain comes from the mind's reaction to perceived injury rather than injury itself - one of the reasons doctors say 'You'll feel a small prick'. It can also be seen by watching small children (toddlers mainly) play, they'll run head-first into the corner of a table and look to an adult for the reaction, if the parent laughs then the child will laugh, if the parent shows concern (which they really do and probably should) the child will bawl. In armour you can't see a bruise or a misshapen bone or even blood and without that feedback you don't assign 'Oh, God! I'm broken!' to what you're feeling. Plus I suppose your interactions are being done through steel which serves as a sort of minor splint. Add in sweat masking blood flowing over flesh, cacophonous noise, constant movement and jostling and it is easy to miss all sorts of important cues and fight with some nasty stuff hidden from you. Makes armoured fighters even scarier to face. All of which is after the fact they're already more impregnable than a tank in their own period.
Focus and adrenaline have an effect as well. I suffered a minor fracture of my upper arm during a football game. I don't consider myself as particularly tough but I finished the game with out realising how badly I was injured until we were back in the locker room. My understanding is that this is not uncommon.
Ah..The blood filled gauntlet syndrome. 'Hmm..some one have been bleeding on the ground here. Looks fresh..The hell! I got it on me too?!' Moves the hand about and clenches. *Squelch.. Drip drip..* 'Oh..Fubar. It's me!'
Note for my tabletop RPGs: make perception check for character wearing full plate armour if he notice that he is wounded, difficulty level - extremely hard.
